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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28289802">50 Christmas Ornaments My True Love Gave To Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyful_soul_collector/pseuds/joyful_soul_collector'>joyful_soul_collector</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Irondad Oneshots [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Acephobia, Adorable Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Asexual Peter Parker, Asexual Tony Stark, Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Bisexual Pepper Potts, Bullying, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Cute Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, James "Rhodey" Rhodes Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Kid Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Mentioned Flash Thompson, Multi, Only a tiny bit, Pansexual James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Parent James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Peter Parker &amp; Morgan Stark are Siblings (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Pepper Potts's Biological Child, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Polyamory, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Precious Peter Parker, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Protective Tony Stark, Romantic Fluff, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:55:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,191</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28289802</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyful_soul_collector/pseuds/joyful_soul_collector</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was Christmastime in the Stark-Rhodes-Potts’ household, with Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, Peter, and Morgan all sitting at the table. Jingle Bells was playing quietly in the background, and each one of them was working on decorating a clear plastic christmas bauble, a growing pile of colorful ornaments in the center of the table. </p><p>OR</p><p>The Iron Family gets carried away making Christmas ornaments, and Peter talks to his dad about asexuality</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Rhodey" Rhodes &amp; Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker &amp; James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker &amp; Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker &amp; Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) &amp; Tony Stark, Peter Parker &amp; Pepper Potts, Peter Parker &amp; Pepper Potts &amp; Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker &amp; Pepper Potts &amp; Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) &amp; Tony Stark, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Irondad Oneshots [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884265</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>105</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>50 Christmas Ornaments My True Love Gave To Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you to @baloobird for beta-reading this for me! go check out her fics, she's got lots of stories with Asexual Peter Parker and Tony Stark too!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“This was the best idea. Peter, remind me never to doubt you again,” Tony said, gazing at his newly made red and gold Christmas ornament. It was Christmastime in the Stark-Rhodes-Potts’ household, with Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, Peter, and Morgan all sitting at the table. Jingle Bells was playing quietly in the background, and each one of them was working on decorating a clear plastic christmas bauble, a growing pile of colorful ornaments in the center of the table. </p><p>“I told you it would be fun!” Peter said with a laugh, carefully pouring a bit of red glitter into his own ornament. </p><p>“Told you!” Morgan echoed, despite the fact this activity had been a complete surprise to her and she had told Tony no such thing. Morgan reached forward suddenly, grabbing the white glitter. </p><p>“Oh, dear you need to be more careful with that,” Pepper said as Morgan spilled some on the table trying to pour it into her ornament. “Here baby, use the funnel.”</p><p>“Finished!” Rhodey said suddenly, nearly startling Peter into flinging glitter everywhere just as Morgan had done. Rhodey held up a bauble that had been painted in three stripes of red, blue, and grey, with “T+R+P=❤️” painted in black overtop. It took Peter a moment to realize that the colors were representing each of their Iron Suits, and he said “Awww” along with the rest of the family. </p><p>Both Tony and Pepper kissed Rhodey on the cheek, Tony on the left and Pepper on the right, and Peter laughed at the sheepish but adoring smile Rhodey gave them in return. He placed his bauble next to the others and gazed fondly at the colorful pile. </p><p>“I think these are my favorite ornaments,” he said with finality. </p><p>“Ha! You sure about that? You like them even more than your special War Machine one Pep gave you?” Tony said, an eyebrow raised skeptically. </p><p>“He’s a close second of course, but these are my favorite since we made them together as a family,” Rhodey said, grinning happily. </p><p>“Aw, you’re <em> extra </em>sappy today, Pops,” Peter teased, putting the top on his ornament, and smiling at the layers of red and white glitter in his candy-cane themed bauble. </p><p>“Are you implying that I’m sappy <em> all </em>the time?”</p><p>“Not even just implying. You’re sappy. You’re a sappy, mushy, lovey-dovey, man,” Peter said, scrunching his nose at his father, and sticking out his tongue childishly. Rhodey made a mock-offended gasp, and pressed his hand to his chest. </p><p>“I’m deeply offended by this. You know I’m not sappy, right Little Mo’?”</p><p>“Super sappy,” was all Morgan replied with, clearly more interested in stuffing bits of ribbon in her ornament than she was in the conversation itself. The rest of the family laughed as she continued to fill her bauble, and Tony threw an arm around Rhodey’s shoulders. </p><p>“Nah, I think I actually agree with you, Honeybear. These are probably my favorite as well, I can’t believe we never did this before. I almost wish we could make more, we were each only able to make five,” Tony said, looking down at his completed ornaments beside him, a slightly disappointed look on his face. “I had a lot more ideas for what to design.”</p><p>“I did too,” Pepper said, looking down at her own baubles, neat and elegant, all themed with the colors of white and gold, unlike the rest of the family, who had gone a bit more wild with their designs. </p><p>“Well… who said we’re not allowed to go back to the craft store and get some more?” Peter said tentatively. When all three parents raised an eyebrow he quickly went on. “I mean we have plenty of paint and glitter and ribbon left! We could probably just get some more baubles and have enough supplies to make more--I mean what else are we gonna use this stuff for? Might as well use it up on more ornaments so we don’t waste it, ya know?”</p><p>The three adults were now wearing varying convinced facial expressions, though Morgan’s response definitely worked in Peter’s favor. </p><p>“Yes! Let’s do it! Pleeeeease???” she said, looking up at them and giving them her best puppy eyes, garnished perfectly with a little sniff. </p><p>Peter was grabbing his coat before they even said “yes.” </p><p>~~~</p><p>“Ya know, I distinctly remember you saying all we had to get was more ornaments, and that we already had enough supplies to make another batch,” Tony said, frowning at Peter, who was gazing at the rows of glitter on the shelf. </p><p>“Yeah yeah, I know, but we only got christmas themed colors last time! What if we got something else besides the red, green, white, and blue?”</p><p>“Well we got gold and silver too, and a little black--”</p><p>“You know what I mean,” Peter groaned with a roll of his eyes. “We could do so much more with some extra colors--Ooh look!” Peter snatched four containers of glitter off the shelf and presented them to Tony. “We could make pride flags! You and me could have personalized asexual pride ornaments!”</p><p>Tony sighed at the sight of the bottles. </p><p>“Well… that would be cool… I dunno kiddo…” Tony said slowly, pushing his hands in his pockets as he thought. </p><p>But Peter suddenly realized what he was doing and his face turned red with embarrassment. He really shouldn’t be asking for things right now, especially when he only wanted these colors because he was feeling a little insecure. That’s not a good enough reason to be spending money on glitter they were never gonna use again. </p><p>“I--Um, nevermind, sorry,” Peter said, his hands shaking a little as he reached up to put them back. </p><p>“What? No, Peter, I was--”</p><p><em> “There </em> you two are!” Pepper said suddenly, making them both jump and turn in her direction. She made her way over, Rhodey and Morgan trailing behind. “What’re you doing over here?”</p><p>“Well the kid’s twisting my arm into getting us some pretty ace glitter,” Tony responded, and Pepper glanced at the bottles Peter was still holding. Peter grimaced inwardly, wishing Tony hadn’t said anything. He didn’t need Pepper to explain to him they can’t just buy whatever he wants just because he’s a little upset. </p><p>But she wasn’t angry with him. She snorted, rolling her eyes at Tony’s pun. </p><p>“Well if you two get your pride flag then I want mine too,” she said, reaching over and grabbing some pink, purple, and blue bottles, the colors of the bisexual flag, and throwing them in the basket with the pack of ornaments. The knot of nervousness that had formed in Peter’s chest instantly unraveled, and he suddenly felt a lot more at ease about putting his own bottles of glitter in the basket. </p><p>“Hey don’t forget mine!” Rhodey said, reaching for the pink, yellow, and blue bottles, the pansexual pride flag, and putting them in too. </p><p>“Oh, you guys need the polyamorous flag too!” Peter chirped, snagging the blue, red, and black bottles of glitter. “We can use the gold paint back at home to put the pi symbol on it too!”</p><p>All three parents smiled warmly at him, and Rhodey reached forward to ruffle his hair affectionately. Peter remembered when Pepper and Tony had first started dating Rhodey, they’d been so nervous to tell him because they were scared he wouldn’t like it. Peter was only about ten when they told him, and he could tell they had been very worried. Peter colored a picture of the three of them holding hands the next day, and hung it up on the fridge. He found out later that Tony had given it to Rhodey, and Rhodey keeps it in his wallet now, taking it everywhere he goes. And when Rhodey eventually moved in and got married to Tony and Pepper, Peter was extra enthusiastic in helping him get settled, to make sure he felt welcome. </p><p>Peter’s always done his best to make sure his parents knew he loved them, and accepted them just the way they were. </p><p>But Peter was suddenly snapped out of his memories by Tony’s voice. </p><p>“But what about Little Mo’? We can’t have her feel left out!” he said, gazing down his daughter by his feet. But Morgan suddenly held up a large colorful bag, showing off the contents to her fathers, mother, and brother. </p><p>“Pom poms!” she squeaked happily. The bag was filled with hundreds of colorful pom poms of varying sizes, some of which were definitely too big to force into the ornaments, but Peter knew that wouldn’t stop Little Mo’ from trying. </p><p>“Oh yes, you forgot, Dad,” Peter said, scooping up his little sister and resting her on his hip. “The ‘P’ in the acronym doesn’t just stand for Pansexual and Polyamorous, it also stands for Pom Poms.”</p><p>“Oh yes, that’s the new one isn’t it?” Tony said with a snort, now sorting through the glitter in the basket to get rid of repeated colors. </p><p>“Yup. Maybe I can get MJ to design a pride flag for it,” Peter said with a smirk. </p><p>“I’m sure she would do so happily,” Pepper said, taking the pom poms from Morgan to put them in the basket, and kissing Morgan's head. “Now why don’t you and your Dad get back to the car and buckle Morgan in while your Papa and I get everything checked out?”</p><p>A few minutes later Peter walked out of the store with his sister and dad, and Tony was buckling Morgan in her carseat. </p><p>“Snug bug?” Tony asked her as he adjusted the straps of her seat. </p><p>“Snug bug,” Morgan confirmed with a giggle. Tony smiled and booped her nose, before drawing out his phone and opening up a game. </p><p>“Wanna play on Daddy’s phone?” he said, handing it to her and helping her put in the headphones. Then Tony moved back up to sit in the middle row of the van, where Peter was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. </p><p>“You never let <em> me </em>play with your phone when I was little,” he said bluntly. “I’m sensing a favorite child has been chosen.”</p><p>“Pfft, is that another one of your spidey powers? Your Spidey Sense get upgraded along with your suit?” Tony asked with a roll of his eyes. “No, I just needed her to be distracted.”</p><p>“What? Why?” Peter asked with a frown. </p><p>“Well, it seems my <em> other </em>bug isn’t so snug,” Tony said, looking at Peter pointedly. </p><p>“That doesn’t make any sense.”</p><p>“What’s up kiddo? You seemed a little worried back there,” he said. </p><p>“I did? When?” Peter said, hoping to wiggle his way out of the conversation somehow, stall until his Mom and Papa got back. </p><p>“When you were asking about if you could get the ace flag colors. You know I was joking right? I wasn’t actually considering saying no to you, I want you to be able to show your pride however you like,” he said gently. It seems Peter wouldn’t be able to get out of this one.</p><p>“No, yeah I know that, it… wasn’t you I was worried about,” Peter said with a sigh. “Part of it I guess was uh, well you know how I get guilty asking for things. I didn’t want to make you spend money on me.”</p><p>“Ya know for the child of a billionaire you sure worry about money a lot,” Tony said with a smirk. “I don’t mind spending money on you. You’re important to me, and I have the ability to do it, so I like to. But, you already know that, and I have a feeling the money wasn’t the only thing bothering you. Am I right?”</p><p>Peter’s face turned even redder and he glanced out the window to see if his Mom and Papa had come to save the day. </p><p>No such luck.</p><p>“I uh… Flash said something the other day. Bothered me,” Peter muttered. </p><p>“What did he say, kiddo?” Tony said, reaching over to squeeze Peter’s hand. </p><p>“…he said nobody would ever want to date someone who was asexual like me. That no one would wanna be in a relationship with someone who wouldn’t, uh--” he glanced at Morgan to make sure her earbuds were still in, “--‘give them any’.”</p><p>Peter looked down and picked at a loose thread on his jeans, avoiding his father’s gaze. </p><p>“Oh Peter, I’m sorry. That’s not true, there are plenty of people who will love you just the way you are,” Tony said, smoothing a thumb over Peter’s knuckles. </p><p>“Yeah, I mean I-I know that in the back of my mind--I mean you’ve got <em> two </em> people who love you, and you’re ace like me, so--so I mean I’m sure I’ll find at least one person, it’s just--” Peter broke off with a sigh. “What if… What if I find someone who’s okay with me being ace, but they’re not nice in other ways? What if there’s only one person who’s okay with me being ace, and it turns out they like, I dunno, hate that I’m Spider-Man? Or they’re even abusive or something? What if the only person who will ever like me is someone who’s <em> bad?” </em></p><p>“Peter, nobody really ever has just <em> one </em>person they’re compatible with. I learned that when I fell in love with Rhodey,” Tony said with a soft smile. “There’s going to be more than one person who’s okay with your asexuality, just like there will be more than one who isn’t. There will be people who are okay with it but are terrible in other ways, just as there will be people who aren’t okay with it but are amazing in other ways. </p><p>“And of course, that means there will be people who are just bad for you overall. People who aren’t okay with your sexuality and are awful. But that means there will also be the opposite! There will be people who will be fine with your asexuality, <em> and </em>are also kind, and funny, and will have qualities you love. </p><p>“Humans are complex, you’ll never meet one that’s exactly the same as the other, and yet we have the ability to love so many different people, in so many different ways. It’s part of why I fell in love with both Pepper and Rhodey. I love how unique they are. </p><p>“Like you said: two people who are so different from each other, and yet they both fell in love with an asexual person like me. And neither of them are terrible, obviously,” Tony said, and Peter laughed, finally looking up at him. Tony smiled and gave his hand a final squeeze. “Basically, of the hundreds of humans your age in New York, I doubt there’s only <em> one </em> person who would be good for you, and even less likely that the only people willing to date you are abusive and awful. It mathematically doesn’t make sense. Throw in the fact that you’re the kindest kid I’ve ever met, and I doubt there’s an asexual-accepting human in the <em> world </em>who wouldn’t wanna date you.”</p><p>Peter laughed again, leaning back on the headrest as his chest filled with relief. </p><p>“Thanks,” he said quietly. “I dunno what I’d do without you to help me with all this stuff.”</p><p>“Of course, kiddo. It’s what Dads are for.”</p><p>~~~</p><p>An hour later, Peter and his family were finishing up making the last of their baubles, Peter carefully painting the Spider-Man logo on his glittery asexual pride ornament. He was feeling a lot better after the talk with Tony, like a weight had been lifted off him. It even made painting a little easier, despite the fact he was awful at painting. </p><p>Rhodey had finished about half an hour earlier, now in the kitchen making cookies while Pepper and Morgan watched Klaus in the living room. The smell of Rhodey’s cookies wafted into the dining room where Peter and Tony were still working. Peter snapped up and sniffed the air, drinking in the scent of chocolate, butter, and sugar, the signature smell of Rhodey’s chocolate chip cookies. </p><p>Peter’s stomach gave a deep growl at the scent, whining miserably about how empty it was. </p><p>“Wow, <em> someone’s </em>hungry,” Tony said, glancing at Peter’s middle with a smirk. </p><p>“I knoooow,” Peter groaned, wrapping an arm around his belly. “I was so distracted by the ornaments I forgot to have a snack when we got home. Dumb super metabolism, I’m gonna starve to death before those cookies get out of the oven.”</p><p>“Well don’t do <em> that,” </em> Rhodey said, walking in with a plate piled high with cookies. “Guess you were so distracted you didn’t hear the timer go off either, huh?”</p><p>Peter wasn’t listening though. He’d already put his ornament down to let the paint dry and was making grabby-hands at the plate, practically drooling. </p><p>“Alright alright, calm down, don’t eat too fast either, you’ll give yourself a tummy ache,” Rhodey said, handing him the cookies. Peter scoffed as he stuffed a cookie in his mouth. </p><p>“I’m fifteen, I don’t get ‘tummy aches’,” Peter said through his mouthful of cookie. </p><p>“Tell that to whoever got a tummy ache from eating a whole solid chocolate santa in five minutes last week on a dare from Ned,” Rhodey muttered as Peter stuffed more cookies in his mouth. </p><p>“That was not a ‘tummy ache’, that was Extreme Christmas Celebrating.”</p><p>“It was a tummy ache. You said ‘I have a tummy ache.’”</p><p>“I did <em> not--” </em></p><p>“Uhh, guys?” Tony suddenly interrupted. Peter and Rhodey looked at him, and Pepper glanced back from her position on the couch. </p><p>“Yeah?” they all said. </p><p>“I uh… I think we have fifty ornaments here,” he said, staring wide-eyed at the pile. Peter blinked. </p><p>No, no way, they didn’t make <em> that </em>many. </p><p>“You sure you didn’t miscount?” Rhodey said, looking at the pile more closely himself. </p><p>“Oh I’m sure. There’s fifty ornaments here. We made <em> fifty </em>ornaments,” Tony said. </p><p>“That can’t be right, each of us only made… only made…” Peter had been about to say five, but realized that was <em> before </em> they bought the second batch of ornaments. If they made five, and then each made <em> another </em>five… </p><p>“Ten. There’s five of us and we each made <em> ten </em> ornaments,” Pepper said in disbelief. “How did we not realize we’d be making ten each? <em> Fifty </em>ornaments?”</p><p>They all stared at the pile in silence for a few moments. </p><p>“Well, I guess the tree will be a bit crowded this year,” Peter said, taking another bite of cookie. They all laughed, then Rhodey, Tony, and Peter, settled on the couch next to Pepper and Morgan to finish the rest of the movie with them. </p><p>Later that day when Peter had a bellyful of cookies, they decorated the tree with their new ornaments, as well as the ones dragged out from the boxes in the garage. And while it was a bit crowded like Peter had predicted, it was the best one they’d ever had, with their pride ornaments glittering in the firelight, and Morgan’s pom pom baubles adding the perfect sprinkling of color to the green branches. </p><p>Peter had never seen a more perfect tree. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fun Fact: This is based off when my own family got carried away making christmas ornaments lol<br/>Also I'm on tumblr <a href="https://joyful-soul-collector.tumblr.com/">@joyful-soul-collector</a> so feel free to follow me there and we can yell about Irondad together :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
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